wildfire

American  

[wahyld-fahy^uhr] / ˈwaɪldˌfaɪər /

noun

1. any large fire in brush, forests, or open spaces that spreads rapidly and is hard to extinguish.

2. a highly flammable composition, such as Greek fire, difficult to extinguish when ignited, formerly used in warfare.

3. sheet lightning, unaccompanied by thunder.

4. the ignis fatuus or a similar light.

5. Plant Pathology. a disease of tobacco and soybeans, characterized by brown, necrotic spots, each surrounded by a yellow band, on the leaves and caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas tabaci.

6. Pathology Obsolete. erysipelas or some similar disease.

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wildfire British  

/ ˈwaɪldˌfaɪə /

noun

1. a highly flammable material, such as Greek fire, formerly used in warfare

2. 1. a raging and uncontrollable fire

   2. anything that is disseminated quickly (esp in the phrase spread like wildfire )

3. lightning without audible thunder

4. another name for will-o'-the-wisp

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wildfire Idioms  

1. see spread like wildfire.

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Etymology

Origin of wildfire

First recorded before 1000; Middle English wildefire, Old English wildfȳr; equivalent to wild + fire

Explanation

A wildfire is an uncontrolled blaze, especially one that ignites rural areas with a lot of trees and dry brush. Factors like drought, unusually warm weather, and development can contribute to bigger wildfires. Wildfires are a natural part of many forest lifecycles, but human activity and climate change have made these conflagrations more frequent and dangerous. Unextinguished campfires, lightning strikes, and power lines can all ignite a fire that spreads and becomes a wildfire, given dry enough conditions. The biggest U.S. wildfire, which burned acres of the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico, devastated an area larger than New York City. In Old English, a wildfire was a wilde fyr.

Example Sentences

Those were the last independent audits of the three companies’ wildfire spending.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

This could help limit Southern California’s wildfire potential in the fall and winter, which is typically shaped by the presence of Santa Ana winds.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

The state Public Utilities Commission would have to consider the audits’ findings before agreeing to raise customer rates to cover even more wildfire spending.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

The largest wildfire in California this year is no longer growing, fire officials said Saturday morning.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026

A false rumour that the whole household was being distributed free spread like wildfire; and before long the place was packed with people who had no business there, but could not be kept out.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Related Words

• blaze
• conflagration
• flare
• flash
• light
• spark